'I think the party has yearned for a fighter': Michael Avenatti confirms he may run as a Democrat against Trump in 2020

Michael Avenatti, the lawyer known to needle President
Donald Trump on social media and on TV, says he might run
against Trump as a Democrat in the 2020 presidential
election.

Avenatti first gave that information to the Des Moines
Register newspaper on Thursday. He was in the Iowa state
capital with several other presidential hopefuls getting a head
start on the next race to the White House.

"I wanted to come to Iowa and listen to people and
learn about some issues that are facing the citizens of Iowa
and do my homework," Avenatti told the Des Moines
Register.

Avenatti has never held public office before, and has
no known experience in politics. He made clear he's only
exploring a potential 2020 run, but said he believes Democrats
"have yearned for a fighter," and said he believes he fits the
bill.

Michael Avenatti, the high-profile lawyer to adult-film star
Stormy
Daniels, and a frequent thorn in President Donald Trump's
side, wants you to know that he's thinking about a career change.

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"I'm exploring a run for the presidency of the United States,"
Avenatti told the Des Moines Register newspaper on Thursday,
"and I wanted to come to Iowa and listen to people and learn
about some issues that are facing the citizens of Iowa and do my
homework."

Avenatti is not new to the national spotlight. In recent months,
he made his trade by taking up Daniels' cause. The actress, whose
real name is Stephanie Clifford, is Avenatti's most high-profile
client. She's suing Trump over a $130,000 nondisclosure agreement
she signed to keep quiet about an affair she said she had with
Trump in 2006.

As part of the proceedings in that case, and multiple subplots
involving Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen and others,
Avenatti has become a mainstay on cable news and a frequent
agitator of Trump and everyone in the president's orbit on social
media.

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But Avenatti has never held public office before, and has no
known experience in politics. While he is entertaining Democratic
Party luminaries and other hopefuls in Iowa - the state where the
presidential nomination contest begins - he told the Des Moines
Register he believes that, above anything else, what the party
needs in 2020 is a "fighter."

"I think the party has yearned for a fighter - a fighter for
good, if you will - for a significant period of time," Avenatti
said.